Joseph Slade was born in Vermont in 1825. His parents, John & Betsy Slade, came to Plum Grove in 1838 with their four childen. Mr. Slade had a set of carpenter’s tools and $10 when he reached Chicago. He took up a government claim and rented a log house from Ben Lincoln. He traded with the Indians for some corn which he planted the following spring. When Joseph grew up he married a girl named Laura (surname not known). They had two daughters, Bessie and Emily. Joseph ran a grain and lumber business with two partners, George Andermann and Henry Batterman. After Laura’s death in 1879, Joseph married again in 1880. His second wife, Martha Manthis, was born in Germany in 1859. The couple had one son, John Joseph. Joseph died in 1886. She remarried in 1913 and lived until 1954.

The Harry Alten family owned a truck farm at what is now the Palatine Distribution and Processing Center of the U.S. Postal Service at 1300 East Northwest Highway. The 60 acre farm was bounded by the west side of Arlington Crest Subdivsion, Northwest Highway, Salt Creek and the south end of the Charles Rizzo farm. They lived there from about 1944 to 1956 and raised all kinds of vegetables including cabbage, green beans, leaf lettuce, spinach, onions, carrots, parsnip and cucumbers. They placed the produce in sacks or bushel baskets and trucked them down to South Water Market in Chicago. This photograph shows three brothers Gilbert “Mike” Alten, Harry Jr. and Dale with their father and mother Harry and Laura behind a truck full of sacks of onions.

These photos show the house and two smaller farm buildings. The one behind the fuel tank was formerly a hog barn. The other was a corn crib. Just to the right of the farmhouse is a little shed that kept the well machinery from freezing.

This photo demonstrates how relatively ’empty’ the landscape was in the 1950’s. Row upon row of baskets of onions were allowed to dry in the sun. The photos were taken about 1955. The next year the Alten family moved out to Harvard, Illinois and continues to grow vegetables on a truck farm.
Thank you Harry Alten Jr. for allowing us the scan your photos and taking the time to tell us your story!

Betsy Slade was born in Palatine in August 18, 1850. She was the daughter of Joseph and Laura Slade. She married Andrew Collins Sefton in November of 1869. Andrew was born in Thurmont, Maryland, on November 22, 1843. He came to Chicago in 1865 and spent a few years there before coming to Palatine, where he lived the rest of his life. The couple had three daughters and three sons: Melvin, Arthur, Joseph, Ivey Viola, and Mae. Andrew was a plasterer and mason and first came here when he secured a contract to plaster the school house. He was in ill health for the last two years of his life and sufferes from dropsy (edema) for the last several months. He died on March 23, 1912. Betsy was a member of the Women’s Relief Corps and the Order of the Eastern Star. After her husband’s death, Betsy moved to Chicago though she made frequent visits to Palatine. She died on May 6, 1920.

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Prominent attorney and local leader Ralph Peck helped put together the individual plots of land that eventually became Deer Grove Forest Preserve. He was convicted in 1933 of embezzlement of funds from First National Bank of Palatine and sentenced to 18 months in Leavenworth prison. Courtesy of Paddock Publications.

The Arthur T. McIntosh Co. was founded by Arthur McIntosh Sr. in 1907 in Chicago. McIntosh and his son, Arthur Jr., developed over 500 subdivisions and developments in the Chicago area. Soon after its founding McIntosh bought extensive pastures in the vicinity of 63rd and 83rd Streets from State Street west to Pulaski Avenue in Chicago. He subdivided more than 2,000 acres in the city before turning his attention to suburban property. South suburban Harvey was his first venture outside Chicago. After World War I ended he came to Palatine and liked its gentle rolling hills. He bought some land and developed it into his first subdivision here, Palatine Farms. He went on to add Palanois Park and Fairgrounds Park as well as other subdivisions adding up to over 3,000 acres around the village.

Arthur McIntosh established a reputation as a prestigious land developer with exclusive communities. He is best known for the development of Inverness. It started in 1926 when he bought Temple Farm, originally built by Ralph Atkinson, for a summer home for his family. He saw the possibility of developing a community and began buying more property. Over the next 20 years he purchased eleven farms and the Meadow Grove Country Club that eventually became the Inverness Golf Club. He bought dairy farms, grain farms, and a hog farm until he had a solid block of 1500 acres to built his community. The land reminded him of his ancestral home of Scotland and he named it after the capitol of the Scottish Highlands.

Arthur McIntosh wanted to preserve the natural landscape so he set strict standards for construction. No major roads were built into the community to give people privacy and to protect the natural setting. Houses followed the topography and were built on rises and were on one acre lots. The first homes were generally one story. No fences, no streetlights, no curbs were allowed. McIntosh planted thousands of trees. The first sale took place in 1939. Despite the Depression, houses sold for nine to twenty thousand dollars. The village of Inverness was incorporated in 1962. The four silos from McIntosh’s farm are now the village hall of Inverness.

Arthur Sr. died in 1955 and his sons Arthur Jr. and Gilbert continued the business until it was dissolved in 1985.

A partial list of subdivisions that Arthur T. McIntosh & Co. developed follows:

Myron Lytle was born in Malone, New York on February 28, 1826, to William Lytle and Rebecca Rich. Through his mother, Myron could trace his ancestry back to William Brewster of the Mayflower. The family came to Chicago via the Great Lakes when he was twelve years old. His father had a tavern on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. Myron came to Palatine when he was in his early twenties. He married Anna Bradwell of Palatine. Her father was a justice of the peace and a well-to-do farmer in Englishman’s Grove near Ela and Baldwin Roads. The couple had one child, Annie. Myron and Charles Lytle had rented a building in town and started a grocery store in 1856. Myron Lytle was the first mayor of Palatine when it incorporated in 1866. By the 1870’s he was a lumber dealer and also ran a grain elevator with a Mr. Andermann. Later in life he ran a poultry farm. He was known as a reliable breeder and dealer, especially in Rose Comb Leghorns and Javas, though he carried other breeds of chickens. His obituary said he was “a good citizen, an affectionate husband, a kind father and an honorable man.” He died in 1889 at the age of 63.

This lovely lady was the daughter of William & Mary Meissner. They settled here after their marriage but in 1861 moved to New Ulm, Minnesota, in an ox cart. Matilda was born there a year later. Because of Indian unrest and massacres they returned to Palatine and Matilda was raised on a farm on Quentin Road. She married Richard Foreman in 1883 and had five children. Her family lived on a farm at Dundee and Hicks Road until 1907 when they moved into town at Oak and Slade Streets. Her husband became ill and was sent to an asylum in Elgin. Matilda worked as a housekeeper and laundress to take care of herself. She died in 1947.

Photos courtesy of Vietta Mickus (granddaughter of Matilda Foreman)

Cora Foreman is Matilda’s daughter, and the sister of Ella Foreman Bedurske. Cora married William Mess. She was born in 1892 and lived to be 98 years old. William Mess served in World War I.

Ella & May Foreman

May is the third of Matilda’s daughters. She died at a young age. There was also a son, John.

These girls are dressed in the pigeon breasted style of the early 1900’s and have Gibson girl hairdos.

Matilda Foreman is the matriarch of this family of four generations of women. Her daughter, Ella Bedurske, is sitting to her left. Vietta Mickus, Ella’s daughter, is sitting on the grass holding her daughter, Petronelle Smith. A copy of this photo was given to us by Vietta along with many other family photos. Matilda died in 1947, not too long after this photo was taken.

Four Generations

Matilda Foreman with her Grandchildren

Vietta Bedurske is on her lap. Bill Bedurske on the right in back. Lynn and Frances Foreman are two of the other children. From Genoa City. We’re missing one name here.

Charles S. Cutting was born in Vermont n 1854, the son of Charles A. Cutting & Laura Averill. In 1863, the Cutting family moved to Minnesota and then to Salem, Oregon. Charles attended the University of Oregon though he did not graduate. He worked at a newspaper for about a year and a half before coming to Palatine in 1874. He taught at the Wood Street School for a year and then became principal of the school. He started a two year high school in the grammar school building, then the only high school between Jefferson Park (now Chicago) and Woodstock. In 1876, he married Annie Lytle. Though he continued as principal he began studying law under Judge Josiah Knickerbocker. In 1880 he was admitted to the bar and went into law practice with Rollin Williamson of Palatine. In 1887, he was elected to the Cook County Board of Education and held the office of Master of the Chancery to the Circuit Court of Cook County. In 1895, the Cuttings moved to Austin, Illinois, now a part of Chicago. From 1899 to 1913, Cutting held the position of Judge of the Probate Court. He did not run again in 1913 and became a part of the law firm of Cutting, Moore, & Sidley. The Cuttings had one son, Robert Myron. Robert became a lawyer and an automobile manufacturer. Charles Cutting belonged to numerous civic and social organizations and served in many official capacities. He was a Knight Templar, Oddfellow and 32nd degree Mason. He also taught at Kent College of Law. He always remained interested in Palatine and especially in the high school he founded. He gave many gifts to the school’s library. The auditorium, now Cutting Hall Theater, was named after him. He often visited Palatine and spoke here on many civic occasions. He died on April 17, 1936, at age 82.